Kokekaffe on Gitchi Gummi

"wonder if i can swim out to that rock"

Recently I have been greatly encouraged from the Nordic Coffee Culture.  They have seem to have a culture and rich history of coffee, that really trumps our history here. When people here talk about their first memories with coffee it goes like this "my first memory of coffee is of my parents or grandparents, and the drip coffee maker pumping out the Folgers", our tradition is to drink horrible coffee, drink a lot of it, and drink it cold and old. From the little (and I do mean little) I know of the Nordic culture, there seems to be more of a tradition of coffee that is built around friendships, and they involve coffee into their lives and activities on a more meaningful level. No doubt they do drink a lot though. [if anyone has any good resource of Nordic coffee, send it  my way]

This past weekend was sunny and beautiful for the middle of November, so we loaded up the family and went to the shores of the great Gitchi Gummi (largest fresh water lake in the the whole wide world). We met some friends their, brought some snacks and had a little Fika time. I was inspired do brew some coffee down on the shore and do it up kokekaffe style. This inspiration came from reading this great blog post, which speaks of turkaffe (Norwegian hiking coffee). A Traditional Cup of Coffee

Start with some delicious coffee, I went with Cultivar Coffee from Dallas

Dry drift-wood works great for starting a fire

Boil 1 liter of water over the fire

While water is heating up, grind your coffee or have a friend grind it

Once water comes to boil, let cool a minute then add 65 grams of coffee and let steep for four minutes. 

Some notes

I did make sure to stir the coffee when I first poured it in the pot and did put a lid on it while it was steeping. After four minutes of steeping I scrapped off the foam and grounds from the top, but most of the grounds had settled to the bottom, much like when cupping. I was unsure of this brew method, but besides being romantic it brewed a very very sweet cup of coffee, I was very much pleased and surprised. The Finca Santa Clara of Guatemala had a deep dark sweetness of chocolates and cherries which I did not discover on my V60 when brewed at home.

 Now get some good coffee, call some friends go on an adventure and start a tradition.

I do

Well, last month I had the great pleasure of being in two different weddings. First my sister got married and I was able to walk her down the aisle with our mom. Secondly, our good friends, Wood and Rachael Seim, got married and I stood up as a groomsman. At both of these weddings, I was able to "test the metal" and do a little coffee catering. These were two very different receptions, my sister's was very small (40 people) and intimate on  a very warm, almost hot day. The Seim's reception was for around 150-200 folks on a nice, but rather windy/little-chilly evening. For my sister's I did it all myself it was not problem was able to brew up some great coffee, meet new people, talk to old friends, and share Fika. For Seim's I brought in reinforcement by way of a good friend Matthew Kunkle (who also is helping this Fika venture from afar). Matthew drove up from the Minneapolis to help brew some coffee. For both weddings we were brewing up Counter Culture Coffee with the Concepcion Huista from Huehuetenango Guatemala, by far being my favorite. Matthew and I got a little late set up than we had hoped for, but when we started brewing, we did not stop. We were doing 1.5 liter french presses and we had a line for the next two and half hours of people waiting for a cup. This was truly a Fika experience, as we had time to talk and share with people while they waited and sometimes they would even keep chatting after they got their coffee. These were great times for me to do what I love and share it with people. How is your Fika Time?